Posts Tagged ‘1.5V AA batteries’

Maxell makes two kinds of Alkaline batteries and since we’ve tested both the standard 1.5V AA Alkaline as well as the Super Alkaline version of these batteries we’ve decided to make a direct comparison between them in order to see what is the difference. These two types of Alkaline batteries are performing very well and are providing a capacity that is a bit below the one provided by the Duracell Copper Top batteries that we are using as a reference for the standard Alkaline batteries and the Super Alkaline batteries are a bit better than the Duracells.

You can see that at low current drain the difference is about 6% at 0.1A constant current load in favor of the Super Alkaline version, at 0.2A their advantage is about 8%, at 0.5A we are back at about 6% and at 1A it is the highest at about 17%. So the Maxell Super Alkaline batteries are offering slightly better capacity than the standard Alkaline batteries that the company makes and while the difference at lower constant current loads is below 10%, at 1A load the Super Alkaline batteries manage to perform much better.

In the end it is probably up to the price difference between the two types of batteries that can help you decide which one to buy, the standard Alkaline batteries are a bit cheaper than the Super Alkaline version from Maxell as to be expected. And while in general the Maxell Super Alkaline batteries are providing a bit more capacity at all load levels they are doing their best at the 1A constant current load test, meaning that they are definitely the better choice for applications with higher power requirements, though for others with lower power requirements you might still be Ok with the standard Alkaline batteries from Maxell.

We have already tested the 1.5V AA Varta High Energy Alkaline batteries and as well as the 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech Alkaline batteries and they both did perform really well giving the hughest capacities among all other AA-sized Alkaline batteries we’ve tested. And since the 1.5V AA Varta High Energy batteries had the +23% more power than Varta Simply Alkaline claim and the 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech batteries are labeled as +130% in digital cameras versus Varta Simply Alkaline we are expecting these to perform better, even though such marketing labels are hard to interpret in terms of real performance unless we compare both types with the results of our testing.

You can see that at low current drain the difference is just about 2% at 0.1A in favor of the Max Tech model, however as the current draw increases to 0.2A the gap also increase and the Max Tech batteries are able to deliver more – about 9%. Though at the at 0.5A load the things reverse in favor of the High Energy batteries where they take the lead with close to 12% and by and going to 1A the difference in useable capacity you get is just about a percent. So the 1.5V AA Varta High Energy Alkaline batteries are actually not that different as compared to the 1.5V AA Varta Max Tech Alkaline batteries as they provide you with a very similar performance in lower load applications and in very higher load ones, as for the middle ones that we test with they just swap the leading places once for each.

In the end it is probably up to the price difference between the two types of batteries that can help you decide which one to buy, the Max Tech batteries from Varta are slightly more expensive with something like 10% more as compared to the High Energy version (though that difference in price may vary) and as you can see from our tests this difference in price may not be justifiable depending on your specific needs and requirements. Another thing to note is the fact that the Varta Max Tech batteries are also only available in some of the popular sizes and the Varta High Energy product range is much wider in terms of battery sizes and voltages available.